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The Polyester Book of (Bad) Taste
- Narrator
- Ione Gamble
- Publisher
- HarperCollins Publishers
- Publish Date
- 18 June 2026
- Run Time
- 6 hours 48 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
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What to expect
‘Expertly crafted’ AMELIA DIMOLDENBERG
‘A beautiful siren song to anyone who has ever felt ashamed of their own taste’ SCARLETT CURTIS
'An ode to both fearless critique and visceral fandom’ BILLIE JD PORTER
A deep dive into the joy and power of personal pleasures, quirks, obsessions and bad taste, from zine royalty, Ione Gamble.
Most of us consider taste to be a primal instinct. We like the things we like and everything we choose to consume, covet or loathe in our day-to-day lives is dictated by this unknowable force … But at some point, we learn to not fully trust our own taste. We accept that there are people who have better taste than us, so we stop following the flutter of our hearts and attempt to finetune our brain to fall in line with what others consider to be 'good'.
The Polyester Book of (Bad) Taste is an antidote to this ever-creeping homogeneity and bland tastefulness. Edited and introduced by Polyester editor-in-chief, Ione Gamble, this book gathers influential writers from the pages of Polyester to take on the monumental task of defining taste for a generation battling algorithmic content suggestions and ever shortening trend cycles. It is a bible on how to navigate our own likes, dislikes, apathies and adorations.
In a world constantly vying for our attention, having faith in your own (bad) taste is more than a small subversion – it's a rallying cry to live our lives unapologetically.
CONTRIBUTERS: Ione Gamble, Rene Matić, Lauren O’Neill, Catherine Cohen, Seth Bogart, Zarina Muhammad, Tavi Gevinson, Gina Tonic, Misha MN, Katy Cutbirth, Yomi Adegoke, Angela Hui, Sabrina Brier, Kieran Yates, Annie Lord, Nicola Dinan and Ramisha Sattar.
Critics Review
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‘Expertly crafted; it’s a comfort to find people who take the silly things you love seriously’ AMELIA DIMOLDENBERG
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‘An important, beautiful siren song to anyone who has ever felt ashamed of their own taste’ SCARLETT CURTIS
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‘The essential text on cultural taste’ HANNAH EWENS
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‘I flew through this book in one sitting. It’s like a conversation with all your funniest, smartest mates in book form’ DAISY JONES
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‘What a ride! Thought-provoking, nostalgic and piercingly relatable. An ode to both fearless critique and visceral fandom’ BILLIE JD PORTER
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‘Warm, nostalgic and gloriously alive’ ELLEN ATLANTA
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‘This book will empower you to find an unabashedly celebrate what makes you tick’ ASHLEY HAMILTON
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‘A celebration of all the joys our culture so often tries to flatten’ DOMINIQUE SISLEY
User Reviews
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Details
- Author
- Edited by Ione Gamble, Alicia Charles, Vivian Full, Emma Kaler and Lizzie Schenk
- Narrator
- Ione Gamble
- Duration
- 6 hours 48 minutes
- Release Date
- 18 June 2026
- ISBN
- 9780008750442
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- HarperCollins Publishers
- Genre
- Popular culture, Consumerism, Lifestyle and personal style guides, Material culture, Essays
Synopsis
‘Expertly crafted’ AMELIA DIMOLDENBERG ‘A beautiful siren song to anyone who has ever felt ashamed of their own taste’ SCARLETT CURTIS 'An ode to both fearless critique and visceral fandom’ BILLIE JD PORTER A deep dive into the joy and power of personal pleasures, quirks, obsessions and bad taste, from zine royalty, Ione Gamble. Most of us consider taste to be a primal instinct. We like the things we like and everything we choose to consume, covet or loathe in our day-to-day lives is dictated by this unknowable force … But at some point, we learn to not fully trust our own taste. We accept that there are people who have better taste than us, so we stop following the flutter of our hearts and attempt to finetune our brain to fall in line with what others consider to be 'good'. The Polyester Book of (Bad) Taste is an antidote to this ever-creeping homogeneity and bland tastefulness. Edited and introduced by Polyester editor-in-chief, Ione Gamble, this book gathers influential writers from the pages of Polyester to take on the monumental task of defining taste for a generation battling algorithmic content suggestions and ever shortening trend cycles. It is a bible on how to navigate our own likes, dislikes, apathies and adorations. In a world constantly vying for our attention, having faith in your own (bad) taste is more than a small subversion – it's a rallying cry to live our lives unapologetically. CONTRIBUTERS: Ione Gamble, Rene Matić, Lauren O’Neill, Catherine Cohen, Seth Bogart, Zarina Muhammad, Tavi Gevinson, Gina Tonic, Misha MN, Katy Cutbirth, Yomi Adegoke, Angela Hui, Sabrina Brier, Kieran Yates, Annie Lord, Nicola Dinan and Ramisha Sattar.
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